The Actor

Acting Throughout History

Acting styles and methods have changed throughout history.

Acting in Ancient Greece

Historical record suggests that acting was highly presentational.

Actors delivered poetry. Actors used masks. Women were not involved in the play contests

of ancient Greece.

Medieval Acting 5th to 15th century.

Many medieval actors used their own faces to portray biblical characters in the cycle plays.

Began our fascination with performing personalities.

More importance was given to looks along with talent.

Actresses 16th – 18th century.

Cross-gender performance still around after the Elizabethan period.

Women began being included in Roman mime performances.

Were also allowed in commedia dell'arte.

Actresses 17th – 18th century

Even after the breakthroughs for women in the European performing arts during the Spanish Golden Age and English Restoration, actresses as a class were still regarded as morally suspect and socially unacceptable.

The Romantic Rebellion end18th – beginning 19th century.

Before the twentieth century, actors and orators adopted a widely understood system of physical attitudes and gestures that were deemed appropriate for any conceivable emotional state. Think emoticons.

http://19thcenturyacts.com/gestures.html Led to an acting style characterized by an

overflow of emotion.

Presentational Acting Style today

musicals many avant-garde performances

An Actors Tools

Voice – projection, articulation, body – movement, relaxation Mind – analysis, observation

Acting Classes

detailed text analysis careful observation of human beings and other

animal life exercises in improvisation Classes in dance and the martial arts help an

actor develop an expressive body.

Konstantin Stanislavsky

Stanislavsky stressed the importance of psychological exploration of character.

Subtext – what your character is thinking. Objective – what you character wants. Sense memory – recalling a moment based on

sensory information not emotion. Affective memory – emotional recall.

Preparing for a Role

Memorizing lines is the least part of preparing for a role.

The actor reads about manners and social conditions at the time the play was written.

An actor records his or her blocking in a copy of the script.

Most actors find it necessary to do warm-ups before going on stage.

Rehearsals

In early rehearsals most directors will interrupt and change things here and there.

Any stage combat required in a play is usually taught during working rehearsals just after the actors are of book.

When a director gives an actor a note at the end of a run-through, the actor is expected to implement that change in the next run-through.